[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Nohea Tano and Lily Kahumoku celebrated their victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Rainbow Wahine all
business heading into
NCAA Tournament's
final fourUnlike last season, second-ranked
Hawaii isn't happy with just earning
a trip to the semifinals
It was not a dream.
It couldn't have been, not with the roar of the crowd still ringing in his ears when he woke up yesterday morning. Not with all the travel planning to do when he got to the office after breakfast.
But working on a Sunday has never bothered Dave Shoji, especially not when it means he's got another week on the job. Out of the 311 Division I college women's volleyball coaches who started this season, only four can still say they need to look at tape and not at next year's roster.
Shoji is one of them. The Rainbow Wahine coach was dealing with itineraries, buses and the "exciting time of heading back to the final four" some 12 hours after his second-ranked team overcame No. 7 Georgia Tech at the Stan Sheriff Center.
NCAA Final Four
All times Hawaii timeWhere: Reunion Arena, Dallas
Thursday: No. 1 Southern California (33-0) vs. No. 14 Minnesota (26-10), 2:30 p.m.; No. 2 Hawaii (36-1) vs. No. 3 Florida (35-1), 4:30 p.m.
Saturday: Semifinal winners, 10:30 a.m.
Radio: Hawaii matches live, KKEA 1420-AM
TV: Semifinals TBA locally (ESPN2 will show the USC-Minnesota match at 6 p.m. Thursday. ESPNwill show the Hawaii-Florida match Friday at 10:30 a.m.). Saturday's championship is live on ESPN2, 10:30 a.m.
Unlike last season, when Hawaii felt like an accidental tourist in New Orleans, the Wahine are all business as they head to Dallas. They will not be a block from Bourbon Street, as they were last December, and the players will have less free time to spend with family and friends.
Shoji will have, he said yesterday, a tighter rein. Last December, the emotional high came after beating host Nebraska in the NCAA regional final, ending the Huskers' 63-match home winning streak.
"Last year, we wanted to get to the final four, but I don't think we were expecting to," Shoji said. "This year, we expected to get there. That was the focus from the beginning of the season.
"Has it hit me? Yeah."
He didn't need the travel agent to pinch him. On Saturday, his players responded to an impressive challenge thrown at them by an exceptional Tech team with a 32-34, 33-31, 30-24, 30-25 victory.
It gave the Wahine (36-1) what they had hoped for the past three-plus months: a matchup with No. 3 Florida (35-1). The Wahine and the Gators have both won 35 straight and haven't lost since the first week of the season, that coming in the NACWAA State Farms Classic at the Sheriff Center.
The only loss for both teams came against defending champion Southern California. The Women of Troy (33-0) broke the NCAA record for consecutive wins with their 45th straight victory, Saturday's 24-30, 30-26, 30-17, 30-17 win over No. 8 UCLA.
The only final-four team not at the NACWAA Tournament in August was Minnesota. The Golden Gophers (26-10) were here a week later, at the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic.
Minnesota, then ranked No. 6, left with an 0-3 record, including a 30-20, 30-18, 30-18 loss to Hawaii. Saturday, the Golden Gophers outlasted Washington 19-30, 32-30, 33-31, 25-30, 15-9 at Long Beach State to give Minnesota its first final-four appearance.
One of Shoji's first calls after winning Saturday night was to Minnesota coach Mike Hebert. Their friendship goes back to the 1960, when the two were fraternity rivals at UC Santa Barbara.
"Obviously, they've turned it around since we saw them," Shoji said. "They left 0-3 and didn't look like a good team.
"Mike is a little surprised they'll be there with us this week, but he said they played very well in beating Pepperdine (on Friday) and Washington."
Minnesota will take on Southern California in Thursday's first match, followed by the contest between Hawaii and Florida.
"I think we got the match we wanted and I'm sure Florida wanted us rather than SC," Shoji said. "It will be a heck of a battle. We'll play a team that has more athletes than we do and we will slug it out.
"Last year, we were just happy to be there. But we know that this chance (to win a national title) is not coming around again for a few years. Kim (Willoughby) and Lily (Kahumoku) are extraordinary athletes, and we know we won't see another Kim or another Lily for a long time."
Notes: Hawaii is scheduled to leave tonight on a red-eye flight to Dallas. ... This final four reunites three of the four coaches who also had teams in the 1987 and 1988 championship. Only Shoji has remained at his school. Hebert was then at Illinois and USC coach Mick Haley was at Texas.
